Seaplane



R. J. NORTON SEAPLANB Filed March 24, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l Ear/mm JA/a/arwv M MW 1 M May 2, 1933- R. J. NORTON 1,906,712

SEAPLANE Filed March 24, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet, 2

IIIIIIIIIA I///A a g vmwtu fame/v0.1 A/azmv WMW i Patented May 1933claim;

WARE

many;

i Thi's inyent'ion 're1atesto seaplane steering means, .and fa majorobject this'invention is to provide a rudder for 's'eion or pontoons oftheseaplane.

;A "further object of this "invention sip provide means whereby? such a;rudder 'may be withdrawn within the, surface of the pon- Yet a furtherobject of'my invention is to A still further, object of my invention isKtheprovisiOn ofsuitable controls for such a rudder, and thecorrelationof such j'control's with the other controls of the seaplane.

7 With these "andotherfobjects in yiew,

' whichniay boe inci dent to my improvements, the inventionconsists inthe parts anfd*c( )mbin'ations to? be hereinafter set forth. and

cla imed, with the understanding thattheseyenal necessary elementscomprising iii-1 ention may be; varied-1n; construction, pro,

portions and arrangement, without depart ing from the spirit and seo'peof appended In order to. make my inventionmoreclleare 1y understood, Ihave shown in theaccom- .panying I drawings means for carrying the sameinto practical effect, without limiting the improvements in theiruseful. ap-f plieations \to the particular construction,

which, for the purpose of=explanation, have been made the subject ofillustration. In the drawings: 1 V -Figure 11s a side elevation of 'aseaplane showing "the invention installed:

t Figure 2 is anenlarged detailshowiug the features of the rudder, andlts operating mechanism; i t

Figure 3. is a detail of the manual con-I 'trols, t

: Figured is a sectional yiew taken on line 'Figure 5 is an enlargedsectional detail of I the mounting ofthe rudder;-

Figure? is a diagrammatic View of the controls for the air and waterruddersLj As shownin' the drawingsthe invention .-m.ay.be applied to anytype of seaplane orv t PQ Q F a o 4 tron" surfaces-2, propelling means'3and em flying boat having a fuselage 1, air sustentatratedinthis-instancebythe pontoons, 5.

I E if Q 1 more J. non'rolm or wisiimeroninrsrii remor coLu vnam,rnssiqnon roi-nrznm'x 3 nvrarxo'n conromrron, 0 scum rennrnn-rAnA econrorm'rron'or nming These-floatjmembersfare attached to the fuse- Ilage in any suitable manner, as by theffioat struts"6,;7; and 58;

' Thepontbons maybe of any suitablefcon-t stru'c't-ion'suchas woodorflight weight, high strength alloys of thefduralumin type; Preferably'the pontoon'bottom'i's of steppedfconstruction shown-at 9.Mounted on the pontoon for erticalandangularlmovement' with respec'tthereto is theru dder10. This I "member may be "constructed ofanysuitable aerial-and of "any desired shape-and size tependingfupon thesteering eflt'ect desired,

the ruggedness-ofthe supporting structure,

the size; of. the plane and so forth.

As shown more particularly in Figure 2,

the pontoon is providedwithl a recess 11, of the same" generalshapeasf-the rudder, whereinthe rudder may be retracted, when; not in 7 use,I VVhen so retracted, the bottom surface ofth'e rudder formspracticallya continua- -ti'on'ofthe bottom surface ofthe pontoon, 1thereby reducing} to a minimum the fluid resistance caused by 'therudder. a f The frneans'for mounting the rudder are shown in Figure 5. Abea ringIQ issecured to'a'suita'ble rigid portion 13 of the pontoon.

Mounted in bearing 12 is a sleeve 14, pro- Vided with'ayoke composed ofarms 15, and '-having!aglongitudin'al squared recess Tex tending'throughout its" length. 1 Extending through the squared recess is asquaredzrude der -post16,-Ifupon the lower" extremity of whichis mountedthe rudder. 10. It will be 1 I postis .receiv ejdinla similarly squaredrecess '17 inthe rudder, and has a threaded extension notedtliatlin theillustrated form, the rudder d tegral therewith, is-a' circular member20, having a circumferent al groove 21 therem;

Cooperating with this groove are the pins 22,

mountedv in the socket member 23. At'the top of this socket member ears24 are formed, and a pin 25 extending therethrough connects the ears toa slot in the bell crank lever 26.

From Figure 5, the parts of which have just been described, it will berealized that operation of the bell crank lever 26 will cause the rudderport 16 to move upwardly and downwardly through the squared recess insleeve 14, and consequently will retract or extend the rudder 10.Operation of arms 15 will turn the sleeve 14, and such angular motionwill be transmitted to the post 16 and the rudder 10 through the squaredconnec-- tion, while the pins 22 move in groove 21.

A suitable system of controls is shown in Figure 7. Bell crank levers 26are operated by cables 27, passing over suitably placed pulleys andconnected to crank arms 28 lo? cated at the end of shaft 29, operated bya hand lever 30, located adjacent the pilot. Return springs 31 areprovided for the bell crank levers and lever 30 may be provided with apawl and ratchet or tooth and sector device, such as is commonly used onthe hand braking levers of automobiles, for retaining the rudders intheir retracted position. 7

The inner arms 15 of the. rudder yokes are connected together by cable32, led over suitably placed pulleys. The outer arms 15 are connected bycables 33, led over suitably placed pulleys, to crank arms 34- on theends of shafts 35, operated by pedals 36. Mounted on shafts 35 aresleeves 37.; On the inner ends of these sleeves are mounted pedals 38and at the outer ends, crank arms 39. The ends of yoke 40 of the airrudder 41 are connected to crank arms 39 by cables 42, led over suitablyplaced pulleys.

Secured in shafts 35 are pins l3, cooperating with slots 44 insleeves37. By'this arrangement, it will be seen from Figures3, 4 and 7,that pedals38 may be operated to con trol the air rudder withoutaffecting the water rudders. VVhen' pedals 36 are operated to controlthe water rudders, however, the pins l3 will move sleeves 37 with shafts35,

and the air rudder will be operated conj ointly with the water rudder. 1I

If desired, the pin and slot arrangement 4:3, 44;, may be dispensedwith, and the adjacent lugs 45 removed from the pedals 36 and 38 (seeFigure The pilot may then operate The greatest utility of the waterrudders is, of course, in steering the seaplane as it taxies over thewater. These rudders, as previously stated may be retracted when theplane is on the water or in the air to reduce fluid resistance. Ifdesired, the rudder may be left exposed in the air to serve as avertical fin or as an aid to the other controls. course the waterrudders are susceptible of various well known uses for a rudder, such asreducing speed by fishtailing the rudder back and forth.

Wh1le two pontoons and two rudders have been shown, varlous otherarrangements and modifications are within the scope of the invention.

Two similar rudders maybe used on the single float of certain types ofseaplanes, or a single rudder, with suitable changes as to size, etc.,may be used on such a single float seaplane. In this latter case, cable32 and its pulleys would not be necessary and the two cables 33 could beattached to the two arms 15 of the single rudder.

Vhile there is shown and described a spe cific mechanism, it is to beunderstood that this is given merely as one embodiment which typifiesthe other equivalent mechanical structures by which the functions hereindescribed may be secured and/or the desired results achieved.

I claim:

In a seaplane, an air rudder, a water rud der, means for operating saidair rudder in dependently of the water rudder, and means for operatingthe water rudder, said water rudder operating means automaticallycoacting with the air rudder operating means to actuate the air rudder;and means to retract the water rudder within the stream line contour ofthe seaplane. r

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

RAYMOND J. NORTON.

theairrudder independently by placing his v feet on pedals 38oonly; hemay operate the water rudder independently by placing his feet on pedals36 only; and he may operate the rudders conjointly by placing each footso it rests half on a pedal 36 and half on a pedal 38.

It is to be noted that the control cables 27, 32 and 33, leading to thewater rudders, pass, from the fuselage to the pontoons through thestruts 7,thereby protecting the cables and reducing the air resistanceof the plane, 7

